The 10th Stage: (Part 11 of the 12 part series) Encountering the Inner Layers of the Earth as a Rosicrucian/Christian Initiation, in relation to the Beatitudes and the 9-fold human being.

10 is the number of completion. We then begin a new sequence. Humanity having achieved the initiation as a 9-fold being, works on as the 10th Hierarchy, to co-create the building of the ‘New Jerusalem’ – Shambhalla – the Earth as a Sun. It is for this that we strive.

Here is where I ended my lecture on Easter 2016.

For today’s offering, I have decided to include below my undigested notes on this theme, which deserves its own lecture.

“The growth of the New Jerusalem has been ongoing since the Mystery of Golgotha. When the human being has entirely fulfilled his time on earth he will have reached the stage in which he not only weaves the heavenly substance into his own body through his senses, but in which he extends the heavenly substance through what we call spiritual knowledge and art into what will be the external city. The Old Jerusalem was built from below upwards; the New Jerusalem will be built in all reality from above downwards”. ~From The Book of Revelation, by Rudolf Steiner, Lecture 9, Dornach, 13 September 1924

Some thoughts from lecture 12 of The Apocalypse of St. John By Rudolf Steiner

It is only possible for humanity to reach freedom & love through the descent of evil into the abyss.

The clairvoyant Jupiter-human will live consciously under moral conditions. The astral body already transformed through the ego will be capable of working into the etheric body. This is possible thru the Christ-being. Only later will humanity, with the aid of the Father, be able to work into the physical body.

The “first death” is the laying aside of the very last physical body. Humanity then goes on living in the spiritualized earth with all that has been brought into the etheric body with the aid of Christ. They live in harmony with the Christ-principle.

The etheric body of those who have rejected it will be adapted to the physical body & will live in disharmony & burning desire. Those who have thrust away the forces which the Jupiter-consciousness can give them, will remain behind, sunk down below. It is the corrupted intelligence that falls prey to the beast; therefore the number of the beast is the number of humanity. The Sorat-principle originating from other world-ages, must satisfy itself with these materialists who have hardened into matter on the earth. These will be the hosts of Sorat.

But it will still be possible to convert a certain number. Not till the Venus-incarnation does the final decision come.

In the further spiritualizing of the earth there will no longer be etheric bodies. Those who have received Christ will cast them off without trouble; the others will feel it as a “second death”.

“…This is the plan which is called the New Jerusalem. They live in a new heaven and a new earth, that is, Jupiter. This new Jupiter will be accompanied by a satellite, composed of those who are excluded from the life in the spiritual, who have experienced the second death and are, therefore, unable to attain the Jupiter consciousness”.

Those who have reached the true goal on earth, sketch out the plan for the Jupiter-evolution: the New Jerusalem.

The regularity of the New Jerusalem is pictured in the cube of the 7th Seal.

from a sketch by Rudolf Steiner

In Chicago we were fortunate to have Christian Community priest Richard Dancey, who is an amazing storyteller, bring us the Legend of Shambhala over the years. It is a long & winding tale, which I could never hope to bring in this format. But it is so interesting that I thought I would share a few words about the origins of this myth:

Shambhala =”the golden place of peace/tranquility/happiness/just-so”.

In Tibetan Buddhist & Hindu traditions, Shambhala is a mythical kingdom hidden in the interior of the Earth.

Hindu texts such as the Vishnu Purana mention Shambhala as the birthplace of Kalki, the final incarnation of Vishnu who will usher in a new Golden Age –Satya Yuga.

The Kalachakra, a Buddhist text, prophesies that when the world declines into war & greed, & all seems lost, the 25th Kalki king, Lord Maitreya, will emerge from Shambhala with a huge army to vanquish “Dark Forces” & usher in a worldwide Golden Age. (Some scholars put this date at 2424 AD)

The legends, teachings & restorative practices associated with Shambhala are older than any of these organized religions.

Shambhala may very well have been an indigenous belief system, of ‘sun worshipers’ yet to come, with amazing healing abilities, wisdom & long life.

The idea of Shambhala is said to have “outer”, “inner”, &”alternative” meanings. As the 14th Dalai Lama noted during his 1985 Kalachakra initiation, Shambhala is not an ordinary place: “Although those with special affiliation may actually be able to go there through their karmic connection, nevertheless it is not a physical place that we can actually find. We can only say that it is a pure land, a pure land in the human realm. And unless one has the merit & the actual karmic association, one cannot actually arrive there”.

During the late-19th century, HP Blavatsky co-founder of the Theosophical Society, alluded to the Shambhala myth, giving it currency for Western occult enthusiasts. Madame Blavatsky, who claimed to be in contact with a Great White Lodge of Himalayan Adepts, mentions it in several places.

Later esoteric writers further emphasized & elaborated on the concept of a secret land inhabited by a hidden mystic brotherhood whose members labor for the good of humanity.

Alice A. Bailey claims ‘Shamballa is an extra-dimensional or spiritual reality on the etheric plane, a spiritual centre where the governing deity of Earth, Sanat Kumara, dwells as the highest Avatar of the Planetary Logos of Earth, and is said to be an expression of the Will of God’.

Nicholas and Helena Roerich led a 1924-1928 expedition aimed at Shambhala.

French Buddhist Alexandra David-Néel associated Shambhala with Balkh in present day Afghanistan, also offering the Persian Sham-i-Bala, “elevated candle” as an etymology of its name.

In a similar vein, the Gurdjieffian J. G. Bennett published speculation that Shambalha was Shams-i-Balkh, a Bactrian sun temple.

“…The more insight men achieve, the greater and mightier will Christ appear to them to be! When once their gaze can penetrate into Shamballa, they will be able to understand much of what is indeed contained in the Gospels but for the recognition of which they will need to experience a kind of event of Damascus. Thus at the time when men are more sceptical of the original records than they have ever been, the new form of belief in Christ Jesus will arise when we grow into the realm where He will first be encountered: the mysterious land of Shamballa”. ~from The Second Coming of Christ in the Etheric World, lecture 2, by Rudolf Steiner

Tomorrow, dear friends I will offer up a synopsis of Encountering the Inner Layers of the Earth as a Rosicrucian/Christian Initiation, in relation to the Beatitudes and the 9-fold human being for easy study; including a list of all my research resources.